What is Operation Pendennis?0:52

Operation Pendennis was Australia’s largest terrorism investigation, which identified two extremist terror cells in Sydney and Melbourne in 2005.

June 2nd 2018

10 months ago

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US-led coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces are in a final operation to oust ISIS from the last village held by the extremist group. Picture: Chris McGrath/GettySource:Getty Images

More than 1000 ISIS militants have fled into the mountains and deserts of Syria, getting away with $200 million in cash, military officials told have told CNN.

The report comes as diehard jihadists block roads out of the last scrap of their Islamic State group “caliphate” in Syria, US-backed forces fighting them said Sunday, preventing hundreds of civilians from fleeing.

US President Donald Trump called on his European allies to take back alleged jihadists captured in Syria, prompting Belgium to call for a “European solution” to the security issue.

ISIS declared a proto-state across parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but has since lost all of it except a tiny patch of less than half a kilometre square in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.

Near the front line in the village of Baghouz, the sound of outgoing mortar rounds punctured the otherwise quiet afternoon, an AFP correspondent there said.

There were a few bursts of gunfire from the Baghouz skyline and the thick whir of warplanes overhead.

On a rooftop on the edges of the village, a fighter with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces battling ISIS told AFP that even the frequencies used by the jihadists to communicate had gone dead.

“They used to ask for ammunition by saying: ‘You have five crates of tomatoes. Bring them to us.’ They spoke in code,” Sheldar Hasakeh said.

The final operation to oust ISIS from Syria is down to the village of Baghouz and an area of about a half-square kilometre. Picture: Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

“They wouldn’t say they were under fire, they’d say ‘It’s raining on us from the north,’” said the stocky 40-year-old.

“Now their area of control is really squeezed and they don’t have as many walkie talkies.

“They’re not talking to each other as much,” he added.

Earlier Sunday, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said ISIS had blocked roads out of its holdout, preventing up to 2000 civilians from escaping.

“Daesh has sealed off all the streets,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Trucks of civilians who have fled fighting in Baghouz. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

A final operation to oust ISIS from the village of Baghouz, where civilians are being used as human shields. Picture: Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

A spokesman for the US-led coalition said ISIS was using these women and children as “human shields”.

“Civilians who have escaped are reporting ISIS is using them as human shields,” Sean Ryan said.

Thousands of people have streamed out of the so-called “Baghouz pocket” in recent weeks, but at a collection point for new arrivals on Sunday, dozens of tents and a few trucks sat empty.

“It’s been two days since anyone came out,” an SDF fighter told AFP.

After years of fighting ISIS, the SDF hold hundreds of foreigners accused of fighting for the group, and well as related women and children.

Syria’s Kurds have repeatedly called for their countries of origin to take them back, but these nations have been reluctant.

Despite its recent losses, Islamic State is spreading around the world through its affiliate groups.Source:Supplied

The issue has taken on greater urgency, however, amid fears of a security vacuum since Trump’s shock announcement in December that US troops would withdraw.

“The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial,” Trump said in a tweet, using another acronym for IS.

Otherwise, “we will be forced to release them. The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go.”

- ‘European solution’ -

A young boy receives medical treatment for a gunshot wound in Baghouz, Syria. Civilians fleeing fighting have increased during the final operation to oust ISIS. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

Trump’s tweet prompted a reaction from Paris, Brussels and Berlin. In Syria, “it is the Kurds who hold them (the French jihadists) and we have every confidence in their ability to keep them detained,” French junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said.

If they return, “they will all be tried, and incarcerated,” he said, after France this month opened the door to bringing back its citizens.

A French source said an estimated 150 French nationals, including 90 children, could be brought back, but authorities have not confirmed any transfer.

Men who have fled fighting in Baghouz wait in the desert after being screened by members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Picture: Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

In Belgium, justice minister Koen Geens called for a collective “European solution” that carries the least security risks.

In Germany, foreign ministry sources said “the federal government is examining options to enable German citizens to leave Syria, especially in humanitarian cases”.